Accompanying family member in the Faroe Islands
You want to apply for a residence permit as an accompanying family member to a person who has been granted a residence permit in the Faroe Islands.
Questions and Answers
Accompanying family member in the Faroe Islands
If you are the spouse, cohabiting partner, or child under the age of 18 of a person who has been granted a residence and work permit in the Faroe Islands, you can apply for residence permit as an accompanying family member.
As cohabiting partners, it is usually a condition that you have been living together approximately 1½-2 years before you submit your application. It is also
a condition that the cohabitation can be documented. This could be in the form of a lease contracts where you are both listed as tenants, letters from authorities received at the same address, statements from landlords, employers or the National Registry etc.
The Faroe Islands and Denmark are two distinct travel areas. This means that a residence permit in Denmark does not give you the right to stay in the Faroe Islands. Likewise, a residence permit in the Faroe Islands does not allow you to stay in Denmark.
Requirements for your support
If you submit an application for a residence permit in the Faroe Islands, and if you submit your application as an accompanying family member to a person who has a residence and work permit in the Faroe Islands, you must show documentation that proves that this person is able to support you.
However, this rule does not apply if the person has residence under the Sports Agreement.
The person who you will be traveling to the Faroe Islands with, will be referred to as ‘the sponsor’, in the following text.
What are the financial requirements
The sponsor must document that he/she has:
- 35,079.62 kr. in gross income each month, if you are a spouse or a cohabiting partner.
- 40,382.85 kr. in gross income each month, if you are a spouse or a cohabiting partner and if you have a child under the age of 18 that is also traveling with you to the Faroe Islands, as an accompanying family member. 1,323.83 kr. is added for each additional child, for a maximum of 4 children.
- 28,510.29 kr. In gross income each month, if you are a child under the age of 18.
- 3,379.17 kr. is added for each additional child, for a maximum of 4 children.
The fixed amount applies for all of 2024. The amounts are partially regulated by the development of wages in Føroya Arbeiðarafelago’s (the labour union of the Faroe Islands’) collective agreement for unskilled workers, and partially by the government’s regulation procentage anually, on 1 January, which is fixed according to Løgtingslóg um javningarprosent til almannaveitingar (the Lagting law on the regulation rate for social benefits).
Documentation
You must submit the sponsor’s current employment contract in the Faroe Islands.
If the sponsor is already working in the Faroe Islands, you must also submit the sponsor’s paychecks for the last three months.
If your first application for a residence permit as an accompanying family member is submitted after 2 September 2023
If you have submitted your first application for a residence permit as an accompanying family member to a sponsor in the Faroe Islands after 2 September 2023, you are subject to the condition of documenting that your sponsor is able to support you.
If your first application for a residence permit as an accompanying family member is submitted before 2 September 2023
If you have submitted your first application for a residence permit as an accompanying family member to a sponsor in the Faroe Islands before 2 September 2023, you are not subject to the condition of documenting that your sponsor is able to support you.
What are my rights if I am granted a permit?
What are you allowed to do with a permit as an accompanying family member in the Faroe Islands? – and what are you not allowed to do?
Work
As a holder of a permit as an accompanying family member, you are allowed to work during your stay in the Faroe Islands.
Residence
A residence permit allows you to stay on the Faroe Islands for the period of time your permit is valid.
You must not give up your address in the Faroe Islands or stay abroad for a longer period of time. A violation will result in the lapse of your permit. This means that you will lose your right to stay on the Faroe Islands.
If you have been staying on the Faroe Islands legally for less than 2 years, you are allowed to stay outside of the Faroe Islands for 6 successive months.
If you have been staying on the Faroe Islands legally for more than 2 years and you hold a residence permit that can be made permanent, or if you already hold a permanent residence permit, you are allowed to stay outside of the Faroe Islands for up to 12 months.
If you need to stay abroad for an extended period of time, e.g. if you are stationed abroad for a period of time by your employer, you can apply for a dispensation to prevent your permit from lapsing.
Stays in Denmark or Greenland are considered as time abroad.
Social benefits
You must be able to support yourself and your family during your stay. You are not allowed to receive public benefits.
If you or your family members receive such benefits during your stay, your permit can be revoked – and you will lose the right to stay in the Faroe Islands.
Departure from the Faroe Islands
If you have been granted a permit as an accompanying family member and you have been living in the Faroe Islands for less than two years, you are
allowed to leave the Faroe Island for up to 6 months.
If you have been living in the Faroe Island for over two years and have a permit, which can be made permanent, you may reside outside the Faroe Islands
for up to 12 months.
If you reside outside the Faroe Islands for longer than you are allowed, your permit will automatically lapse.
Read more about lapse of permit and your options for seeking dispensation to prevent your permit from lapsing
Stays abroad due to military service or service in lieu of military service are not included.
Stays in Denmark or Greenland are considered as stays abroad.
How long can I stay on the Faroe Islands?
The duration of the permit
You will normally be granted a permit valid for the same period as the family member who is in the Faroe Islands on the basis of work (the sponsor). However, the period cannot exceed 1 year. If the sponsor’s employment is extended and you wish to continue to stay in the Faroe Islands, you can apply for an extension of your residence permit. Your permit can be extended with a maximum of 1 year at a time.
It is very important that you apply for extension before your permit expires.
If you apply for an extension in time, you are allowed to stay in the Faroe Islands even though your permit expires.
If you are an accompanying child, and you are granted your initial residence permit before you turn 18, you are able to extend your permit even though you turn 18 in the meantime. However, you must still be living together with the sponsor.
Shorter validity because your passport expires
A residence permit can only be valid until 3 months before the expiry date of your passport.
If your passport has a shorter validity than the otherwise possible period of stay, your residence permit will be shortened. This means that the validity of your residence permit will be shorter than it could be. When you have renewed your passport, you can apply for an extension of your residence permit – however, this can only be done 3 months before your permit expires at the earliest.
What more do I need to know before I apply?
Language
If you submit documents written other languages than Faroese, English, Danish, Norwegian or Swedish, you must also submit certified translations into Danish or English.
How to fill in the application form
You can find the relevant application form (SF1) below. The application form includes information on how to complete and submit the application form.
How to apply
How to submit the application
Normally, a first-time application must be submitted to a Danish diplomatic mission in the applicant’s country of residence. A first time application can therefore only be submitted to the police in the Faroe Islands or the Immigration Office on special grounds and if the applicant is staying legally in the Faroe Islands.
An application for an extension can be submitted to the police in the Faroe Islands or the Immigration Office. The applicant must bring his or her passport in order for the authorities to verify the identity of the applicant and the passport’s validity.
A first time application or an application for an extension can also be sent directly to the Immigration Office, info@utlendingastovan.fo.
If an application is sent directly to the Immigration Office in the Faroe Islands, the applicant must later meet in person in order to receive the decision. This can be done at a Danish diplomatic mission, at a Faroese police station or at the Immigration Office in Faroe Islands. The applicant must bring his or her passport in order for the authorities to verify the identity of the applicant.
More information is available on the application form.
Download the application form (SF1 - Word) here.
Download the application form (SF1 - PDF) here.